As the total number of active users on these 3 channels combined is 4+ Billion, more businesses are going to expand their customer engagement channels and adopt at least 1 to 2 new messaging platforms in 2020. This will help them effectively communicate with their audience and improve their personalization strategies. This also allows customers who are worried about anonymity to directly reach out to brands and interact using their preferred channel.

The development of digital marketing, during the 1990s and 2000s, changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing.[4] As digital platforms became increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life,[5] and as people increasingly use digital devices instead of visiting physical shops,[6][7] digital marketing campaigns have become prevalent, employing combinations of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing,[8] e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e–books, and optical disks and games have become commonplace. Digital marketing extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as television, mobile phones (SMS and MMS), callback, and on-hold mobile ring tones.[9] The extension to non-Internet channels differentiates digital marketing from online marketing.

With the benefits of big data comes the need for companies to leverage this data better to “significantly simplify tasks that formerly could only be completed by data scientists.” More importantly, “This continued democratization will lead to new use cases that are closer to the needs of business users and will enable faster time-to-market for AI applications in the enterprise.”
Delta Air Lines is a prolific user of social media, specifically on its Twitter handle. The brand uses this account to engage potential passengers in a variety of ways that are both timely and emotionally stimulating. Last month, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the company began sharing personal stories from Delta employees directly through the company's Twitter feed. Here's the beginning of one story's thread, below.

As one size doesn’t fit all and customers want more relevancy, the need for a personalized approach in marketing is becoming more critical than ever. Although delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time is tricky, it will add a big value to your content marketing strategy because it plays a major role in boosting your users engagement rates.

A key objective is engaging digital marketing customers and allowing them to interact with the brand through servicing and delivery of digital media. Information is easy to access at a fast rate through the use of digital communications. Users with access to the Internet can use many digital mediums, such as Facebook, YouTube, Forums, and Email etc. Through Digital communications it creates a multi-communication channel where information can be quickly shared around the world by anyone without any regard to who they are.[30] Social segregation plays no part through social mediums due to lack of face to face communication and information being wide spread instead to a selective audience. This interactive nature allows consumers create conversation in which the targeted audience is able to ask questions about the brand and get familiar with it which traditional forms of Marketing may not offer.[31]

In order to use SEO affectively, you must optimize your content. And when we say content we mean all your content — from your blogs to your landing pages to your social tags. In order to do this you need to create a keyword list, which will then allow you to create messaging around the words and phrase you are targeting. But SEO is much more than just targeting keywords. Link building, content and social media all play key roles in a successful SEO strategy.

Digital marketing is defined by the use of numerous digital tactics and channels to connect with customers where they spend much of their time: online. From the website itself to a business's online branding assets -- digital advertising, email marketing, online brochures, and beyond -- there's a spectrum of tactics that fall under the umbrella of "digital marketing."
Display advertising - As the term implies, online display advertising deals with showcasing promotional messages or ideas to the consumer on the internet. This includes a wide range of advertisements like advertising blogs, networks, interstitial ads, contextual data, ads on the search engines, classified or dynamic advertisement etc. The method can target specific audience tuning in from different types of locals to view a particular advertisement, the variations can be found as the most productive element of this method.
The development of digital marketing, during the 1990s and 2000s, changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing.[4] As digital platforms became increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life,[5] and as people increasingly use digital devices instead of visiting physical shops,[6][7] digital marketing campaigns have become prevalent, employing combinations of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing,[8] e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e–books, and optical disks and games have become commonplace. Digital marketing extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as television, mobile phones (SMS and MMS), callback, and on-hold mobile ring tones.[9] The extension to non-Internet channels differentiates digital marketing from online marketing.
Duke University’s Digital Media and Marketing Certificate program, offered through the Office of Continuing Studies and Summer Session, can be completed through 350 hours (5-10 hours per week of study time is recommended) of fully-online coursework and instruction. The program is self-paced and allows students to progress through the program at the speed that best accommodates their personal schedules and attributes, so long as they complete the program within one year. The program’s directors are confident enough in the quality of this certificate to offer a demo course, where students can get a taste of what the program will offer. The program’s curriculum has been designed by some of the industry’s most respected and renowned speakers, authors, and consultants. Students will also have 24/7 online access to it, so they can choose when and where they choose to learn.

As one size doesn’t fit all and customers want more relevancy, the need for a personalized approach in marketing is becoming more critical than ever. Although delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time is tricky, it will add a big value to your content marketing strategy because it plays a major role in boosting your users engagement rates.

The University of Vermont’s Digital Marketing Fundamentals Certificate can be completed in just 12 weeks and only requires about 8-10 hours of your time a week. The program covers a different topic each week that is taught by seasoned professionals who are succeeding in their speciality in digital workspace. The certificate is designed to accommodate professionals looking to jumpstart their careers in digital marketing whether they are starting from scratch or making a career change later in the game. This program takes the number 1 spot on this ranking because it is one of the most affordable and fast-paced programs on this list while offering one of the lowest tuition rates as well.
A good example of the commercial impact digital technology and media can have is Dominos. I recently heard about the impact of digitization of Dominos from Dave Wild, their UK CEO at Technology for Marketing / E-commerce Expo. Dominos UK only took its first mobile phone order in 2010 when online sales accounted for less than 30% of revenue. Eight years on, Dominos have a market share of more than 50% with digital transactions accounts for more than 80% of sales and the UK smartphone app accounting for more than two-thirds of those sales.
Making use of digital media is a great and largely helpful means to market your product or your company. Although it might seem like an easy task to market things digitally with so many people working in digital media, it actually needs careful market planning so that it can become a success and hit the right target. Use our impressively designed digital marketing plan templates that will ensure that you are working with nothing but the best!
To achieve proper positioning, it's crucial that you are very clear (and reach your audience in the same way) about what your value proposition is and what it entails. In short, it’s why the consumer should choose you and not the competition. You need to know how you’re going to communicate your unique value proposition and how to do so appropriately in the channels where your audience is present (social media, blogs, email marketing, and more).
For that reason, you're probably less likely to focus on ‘leads' in their traditional sense, and more likely to focus on building an accelerated buyer's journey, from the moment someone lands on your website, to the moment that they make a purchase. This will often mean your product features in your content higher up in the marketing funnel than it might for a B2B business, and you might need to use stronger calls-to-action (CTAs).
According to Philip Kotler, considered one of the fathers of modern marketing, a traditional marketing plan serves: “to document how the organization’s strategic objectives will be achieved through specific marketing strategies and tactics, with the customer as the starting point. It is also linked to the plans of other departments within the organization.”
As mobile devices become an increasingly integral part of our lives, it’s vital that marketers understand how to effectively communicate on this unique and extremely personal channel. Mobile devices are kept in our pockets, sit next to our beds, and are checked constantly throughout the day. This makes marketing on mobile incredibly important but also very nuanced.
According to a ‘Managing Digital Marketing’ study by Smart Insights, 46% of brands don’t have a defined digital marketing strategy, while 16% do have a strategy but haven’t yet integrated it into their marketing activity. But here’s the thing: if you don’t have a plan in place how can you expect to grow and innovate, to measure meaningful results and to learn from past mistakes?
If your company is business-to-business (B2B), your digital marketing efforts are likely to be centered around online lead generation, with the end goal being for someone to speak to a salesperson. For that reason, the role of your marketing strategy is to attract and convert the highest quality leads for your salespeople via your website and supporting digital channels.
Digital marketing became more sophisticated in the 2000s and the 2010s, when[15][16] the proliferation of devices' capable of accessing digital media led to sudden growth.[17] Statistics produced in 2012 and 2013 showed that digital marketing was still growing.[18][19] With the development of social media in the 2000s, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, consumers became highly dependent on digital electronics in daily lives. Therefore, they expected a seamless user experience across different channels for searching product's information. The change of customer behavior improved the diversification of marketing technology.[20]
Benedictine University offers an Internet Marketing Certificate program in collaboration with Market Motive to offer a constantly updated, hands-on marketing strategies, designed to match the ever evolving industry. The directors of the program are dedicated to provided their students and education that mirrors the ever-developing landscapes of the online and digital realms. To complete the certificate students must complete four 4-credit hours courses, which cover topics of such as social media and online public relations, search engine optimization (SEO), data analysis, web analytics, PPC advertising and conversion optimization. This certificate can prepare students to take the OMCP certificate test, which can further give professionals a leg up in the digital marketing industry.

#1 Content marketing - this has featured consistently in the top 3 for several years. I think it's number 1 since content marketing can be applied by all types of business regardless of their sector or size and if the right strategy is followed can make an impact that supports communications across all touchpoint of the customer lifecycle. It fuels all digital channels from search, email and social media marketing. This makes having a defined content marketing strategy essential to competing in many sectors.

Duke University’s Digital Media and Marketing Certificate program, offered through the Office of Continuing Studies and Summer Session, can be completed through 350 hours (5-10 hours per week of study time is recommended) of fully-online coursework and instruction. The program is self-paced and allows students to progress through the program at the speed that best accommodates their personal schedules and attributes, so long as they complete the program within one year. The program’s directors are confident enough in the quality of this certificate to offer a demo course, where students can get a taste of what the program will offer. The program’s curriculum has been designed by some of the industry’s most respected and renowned speakers, authors, and consultants. Students will also have 24/7 online access to it, so they can choose when and where they choose to learn.

Several industries like food and beverage, ecommerce, life science and healthcare have started using AI. For instance, many food retailers use big data to determine the best delivery times of their products. This is done by gathering data from different sources such as the weather, road traffic and temperature... Furthermore, big data can help determine the effect of all these factors on food quality.

To do that, you need a consolidated view of customer preferences and expectations across all channels – web, social media, mobile, direct mail, point of sale, etc. Retailers do this using omnichannel retail analytics. Marketers can use this information to create and anticipate consistent, coordinated customer experiences that will move customers along in the buying cycle. The deeper your customer insight into behavior and preferences, the more likely you are to engage them in lucrative interactions.

When a visitor lands on your site for the first time, they’ll make up their mind about your security within seconds. If they don’t feel safe, they won’t hang around, which leads to increased bounce rates. Over time, a high bounce rate is bad news for your business, as you’ll slide down in the SERPs when Google realizes that people don’t want to stay long on your site.
Since 2012 we have run an informal poll to see how widely used digital marketing strategies are. The results have shown some big improvements over the years. A few years ago we found around two-thirds to three-quarters did not have a digital marketing plan. Now that number has shrunk to 45% in the latest survey, although that is still quite high, and means almost half are still doing digital with no strategy in place.
In 2020, shorter posts won’t get you anywhere – with Google or your audience. Typically, posts that are at least 3,000 words long attract the most traffic, as they offer readers an in-depth exploration of topics. Long-form content allows content creators to establish themselves as an expert on a subject and gives them more scope for targeting keywords.
The ability to measure your inbound marketing efforts is one of the most valuable parts of your plan and the beauty of inbound marketing. The amount of things to measure and test are endless. And that’s a good thing because when you are able to test and measure, you are able to improve areas of weakness, report quantitative results and prove the value of your marketing efforts to the broader organization.
Our team of 50+ global digital marketing experts has done in-depth research to come up with this list of 15 Best Free Digital Marketing Certifications available online for 2020. More than 55,000 students have already benefited from these free courses, training, and classes. In case you are looking at courses beyond digital marketing, do check out our compilation of Best Free Online Courses.